Free Dead Ink: A Karma World Romance (Karma Series Book 4) by Donna Augustine Page A

was gone.
    She settled into the bed, still rattled but proud of herself for not screaming bloody murder.
    She tossed and turned for a while before she finally fell asleep. She woke to a dream of rain and made up for the screaming she hadn’t done earlier.

Chapter 10
     
     
    It was four in the morning and Lars had only had about two hours of sleep when his phone rang. He rolled over, intending to hit the mute button, figuring it was a booty call. Sadly, he found himself only interested in one piece of ass lately and that was one call he wouldn’t make.
    His finger changed direction to answer as he saw Cutty’s name flash across the screen. Cutty didn’t call this late unless there was a problem.
    “Yeah,” Lars said as he answered.
    “We had an incident.”
    Lars shot up out of bed, all the drowsiness of sleep immediately wiped from his system. “What happened?”
    “Obviously something shitty or I wouldn’t be calling you right now.” There was a dragged out sigh afterward that warned Lars he wouldn’t like what Cutty was going to say next.
    “Are you going to tell me what?” His hand clenched the phone and he had to force his grip to relax before the screen cracked. The local phone shops were closed up and he didn’t have a spare.
    “Faith received a message,” Cutty said, after a few very long seconds.
    “What was it?” Lars hit the speaker button and dropped the phone on the bed. He grabbed the jeans he’d just taken off, which hadn’t made it to the hamper yet, before Cutty had the time to reply.
    “What are you doing? What’s all that shuffling?” Cutty asked.
    “I’m getting dressed.”
    “Why?”
    “ Why ? You need to ask that?” He threw a fresh t-shirt on over his head.
    “Okay, probably for the best anyway.”
    “What was it? You still haven’t told me.”
    “If you’re coming, best you wait. You really need to see it in person to get the full context.”
    “I’ll be there in ten.” Lars hit the end button and slipped the phone in his back pocket. He grabbed his keys, left his apartment and floored it the whole way over to Cutty’s.
    He got there in under five minutes, less than half the time it normally took him. The door was locked, which was understandable considering what just happened. He leaned on the doorbell for the second time, his body tensing with the delay. What if Malokin had returned? He was considering how long was an appropriate amount of time to wait before he busted the door down. He’d just come to the opinion that he didn’t care what was appropriate when Cutty opened it.
    “Were you going to kick my door down?” Cutty said, seeing Lars’ position.
    “If you took another second, yes.”
    Cutty shook his head and walked back inside, Lars at his heels.
    Angus and Bic were already there. They played poker on Tuesday nights and it could run pretty late. He was usually there as well, along with some of the locals from town who had no idea who they were really playing cards with.
    He’d bailed out on tonight. After watching Faith walking around the shop all day, he’d thought it was best to keep some distance between them.
    Angus and Bic were both standing by the couch, hovering. Sitting there was Faith, her hair wet and in a makeshift bun on top of her head. She looked rattled but okay. Maybe it hadn’t been that bad.
    “She took a shower after the message?” Lars asked, finding it peculiar.
    “Yes. Let me tell you, that chick is a lot tougher than she looks,” Cutty said, clearly impressed with her, although Lars wasn’t sure where this new esteem had come from.
    “Where’s this message?” Lars asked while his eyes had a hard time moving from where Faith sat.
    “Follow me,” Cutty said, and Lars realized he’d taken a step toward Faith without even thinking about it.
    He stopped in his tracks and then nodded to her. She returned the silent greeting with a smile. She might be putting up a good front for the guys but he was the only one who